Online Library

Effects of using chemicals and hormones for cultivation and marketing of vegetables and banana

Research Grant Reports

Subtitle:

[Final Report CF # 14/07]

Data were collected from purposively selected 150 vegetable and 150 banana farmers of Narsingdi, Gazipur and Tangail districts; wholesalers nearer to the selected farmers' villages and Dhaka city; and purposively selected 100 consumers of Dhaka city during the period from January to June 2008. Overwhelming majority of the farmers used medium to high doses of chemical fertilizers for vegetables (86.7%) and banana (97.3%) cultivation. Overwhelming majority of them used medium to high doses of chemical pesticides for vegetable (89.3%) and banana (99.3%) cultivation. Majority of them were low users of PGR for vegetable (58%) and banana (40.7%) cultivation. Vegetable wholesalers did not use any chemicals for marketing and more than half (52%) of the banana wholesalers were the high users of ripening agent. The wholesalers of Dhaka city often drop the banana in the liquid mixture of ripening agents and again they drop it in the formalin to protect from rotting. Majority of the vegetable (71.3%) and banana (66%) farmers perceived medium to high negative effect of agro-chemical inputs on human health. Majority of the consumers perceived that the effect of excess use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in vegetable and banana cultivation increase human diseases. Residual levels were higher than MRL in the brinjal samples collected after 3-days of Ripcord spaying.